There’s a concept in housing called the “missing middle,” which partially explains why finding adequate, affordable housing seems like such a struggle. It’s because the kinds of houses we need most don’t really exist, unless they were built in the 1940s or earlier.
The “missing middle” refers to medium-density housing options — duplexes, triplexes, rowhouses, townhouses, courtyard apartments — available to low-to-moderate-income families (young families, students, etc.). It’s also the thing that’s supposed to be in the middle between big apartment/condo buildings and large single-family homes. It makes a nice starter home until your family outgrows it.
Why did this happen? Well, the gradual accumulation of zoning laws made building anything but single-family homes illegal in much of North America, prioritizing car dependence and separation of races and classes.
Pittsburgh was no exception. However, Pittsburgh has very old housing stock, so there are plenty of these earlier “missing middle” housing types left. And it’s certainly not impossible to build new ones, just not easy; it requires chipping away at zoning laws and placating neighbors who see change as a threat.
So, let’s appreciate what we have, and perhaps someday we’ll get more. Here are a few “missing middle”-type places around Pittsburgh.
For sale: 1532 Marquis Way, North Side $250,000
Is $250,000 affordable? (We normally don’t feature anything higher unless it’s amazing, or funny). There aren’t many homes in Manchester and the Mexican War Streets nearby that are cheaper, so it’s affordable-ish, maybe. It’s in the Old Allegheny Rows Historic District, though this little cluster of two seems all by itself. The brickwork in front isn’t hiding its age; this home was built in 1900. But inside it’s bright and clean and modern, give or take a few teenagers’ messy beds.
This duplex with stacked units is perfect for a young family, unless there’s a kid upstairs who roller skates across a wooden floor into the wall 1,000 times a day (ask me how I know). Seriously, these kinds of units are ideal for getting your feet wet in a new city, moving in with a significant other for the first time, or other transitional housing scenarios. Greenfield remains one of Pittsburgh’s most underrated neighborhoods, though rising prices indicate someone is rating it fairly.
For sale: 1508 Eckert St., North Side, $135,000
Pittsburgh has a fair number of houses that don’t seem to make much sense, and sometimes that’s fun, like in this case. This duplex certainly doesn’t look like it was built in 1885, though part of it may have been. It’s got enough porch for three houses, and a serious case of grandma’s house on the inside, all blood-red carpeting and heavy wood furniture. It’s also $135,000, which is not a lot for a single-family home, much less a duplex.
For rent: 163-165 Morrison Dr., Mt. Lebanon, $1,600/month
Mt. Lebanon and nearby Dormont have a lot of interesting old, small apartments, duplexes and other oddities, because they boomed when it was legal to build them. But this might be the only one that looks like a little like a pig. This unit is just one half, so you get a nostril (door). Other indications of the home’s age — decorative tiled fireplace, radiators — just translate into charm now.
For sale: 1545-1555 Swissvale Ave., Wilkinsburg, $200,000
Six little rowhouses went for a walk up a hill in Wilkinsburg and stopped to catch their breath. And, well, they’re still there 100 years later. When you think of historic rowhouses, you’re probably thinking about the stately brick facades of the Mexican War Streets, built a few decades earlier. But this is another kind of rowhouse, wedged onto a difficult gradient, with staying power. Plus, plenty of porch space.
For rent: Hempstead Road Apartments, Squirrel Hill, $1,410-1,535/month
OK, these apartments might be a little bit bigger than the “missing middle,” but we should make it possible to build mid-sized apartments too. There’s a lot of reasons why Squirrel Hill functions so well as a neighborhood, but having a huge variety of housing types, for lots of different kinds of people and incomes, certainly helps. This collection of seven 1950s apartment buildings look like dorms on some leafy, cloistered college campus, and probably contain a fair amount of grad students and off-campus upperclassmen.
